South Carolina Republicans Introduce Bill To Secede Over Gun Rights

Late this week, a group of Republican lawmakers in South Carolina introduced a bill that would allow the state to secede from the United States if the federal government violated the Second Amendment.

The measure, which was referred to the South Carolina State House Judiciary Committee on April 5, would open the possibility of the state seceding from the U.S. if the federal government began confiscating legally purchased firearms. The bill states:

Notwithstanding another provision of law, the General Assembly shall convene to consider whether to secede from the United States based upon the federal government’s unconstitutional violation of the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, if the federal government confiscates legally purchased firearms in this State.”

The Hill reports that the bill was “introduced by GOP Reps. Mike Pitts, Jonathon Hill and Ashley Trantham, comes amid an intense debate over the nation’s gun laws that was reignited in February after a deadly mass shooting in Parkland, Fla.”

The Hill noted that South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union in 1860 during the time leading up to the American Civil War.